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The Crestwood School Board will meet tonight at 6:30 p.m. Kristen Mullen / The Citizens' Voice

Seeking to dispel rumors of potential violence at a Crestwood school, the school district administration sent out alerts to parents through a district-wide system on Thursday.

The strategy seemed to have the opposite effect. Soon, the superintendent's office was fielding calls from dozens of concerned parents and administrators at other school districts who had heard the rumors that the district itself had spread in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., massacre.

"This afternoon, rumors have begun to circulate through our community about the possibility of a shooting Friday at a local school," an alert sent by the school about 3:30 p.m. said. "We are working with local law enforcement agents to dispel all rumors while maintaining our safe environment for all students. We expect Friday to be an ordinary school day with dismissal at 12 noon for the secondary campus and 1 p.m. for elementary schools."

Superintendent Dave McLaughlin-Smith said the rumors have since been proven unfounded.

"I think we've done our best in terms of squashing it and realizing it was a rumor," he said.

McLaughlin-Smith said he got a call earlier in the day from a Crestwood parent concerned about rumors of potential violence.

The parent's child had overheard another group of parents discussing the purported Mayan apocalypse. The adults were also talking about the consequences of the Mayan story and a student who heard them "drew conclusions" about a shooting, McLaughlin-Smith said.

After administrators traced the rumor of a group of parents, they decided to send out an alert.

"We were trying to investigate that story because in 2012 and after last Friday, it could be a concern. We thought it was necessary to make (an alert)" he said. "I still think it was the right thing to do. I'd do it again."

The district secondary center usually has a police officer on duty unless the officer is called out for an emergency, McLaughlin-Smith said. The elementary schools occasionally have a police officer visit the school, he said.

Hazleton

Hazleton Area School District, south of Crestwood, found rumors of a "veiled threat" on a social media website that said a shooting like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School would take place today, said Superintendent Francis X. Antonelli.

According to Antonelli, rumors spread quickly across Internet social media sites, often with the location of the rumored shooting alternating from Hazleton Elementary/Middle School, to the Ninth Grade Center, to the high school as well as "at the mall."

Antonelli said he assumed the rumored "mall" location referred to the Laurel Mall on Route 93 in Hazle and Sugarloaf townships.

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